In The Garden

The 5th graders and I went out to Grandma's Garden today.  Though the mandate is gone, most of the students were masked.  All of them stayed far enough away from me - they don't want me to get sick any more than I want to be sick.  

We had much too much fun last week, laying bean seeds on wet paper toweling and sealing into a zip lock bag.  They watched and took notes every day as the seeds shed their coats,

                                           

 opened just a touch, 

split in half, revealing a little leaf near his thumb

and sprouted roots

and rootlets

They germinated.  The kids watched as life began.  It may be that I was more impressed with that fact than were the students, but the way they cradled their treasures

 

showed me that something was going on. They cared about the seeds.... maybe because I told them to give them names - for identification purposes... and because it was fun.

We planted the first crop of our 3 Sisters Garden, Prince Style - using tomato cages instead of corn stalks for support. 

We will get to the squash and corn in the next few weeks.  For now, it's time to watch our babies continue to prosper.